It is common practice in the publication industry to attach a mailing label to the exterior cover of a publication to be mailed. The labels include subscriber information, including the subscriber's name, address and zip code. After the labels are affixed to the publications, they are ready for mailing. The publisher pays the postal system for each publication mailed.
Certain periodic publications have a large number of subscribers. The total amount of postage paid for such widely distributed publications can be quite substantial. Periodic publications such as magazines enjoy the benefit of reduced postal rates because of the quantity of magazines mailed. A publisher can benefit from further reduced postal expenditures by presorting the publications prior to mailing according to geographic areas and in particular, according to zip codes areas.
A publisher incurs further postal expenses because of other business activities related to the publications it mails. For example, a publisher of a periodic publication may wish to communicate by letter with certain of the publication's subscribers. This practice is common for communications such as renewal notices. In any particular publication period, a certain number of subscribers will be approaching the end of their individual subscription period. The publisher, of course, keeps careful track of each subscriber's subscription period. Prior to reaching the end of a subscriber's subscription period, the publisher typically sends a letter to the subscriber offering him a reduced rate to renew his subscription at that time.
Often, a subscriber will not respond to the publisher's first renewal letter. A subscriber's failure to respond to the first renewal letter will typically result in the publisher sending another letter containing a reminder that the subscriber's subscription is about to lapse and that the subscriber should renew his subscription. The first renewal letter and subsequent follow-up renewal letters are typically sent prior to the actual date of the end of the subscription period to permit the subscriber time to renew his subscription without a lapse in service.
Since subscribers' subscriptions typically expire at different times, the publisher needs to send the renewal notices to subscribers on an individual basis. A renewal notice in the form of a letter is far preferable over a non-personalized renewal card inserted into the magazine.
Beside the renewal letter, a publisher may have various other reasons for wanting to communicate to its subscribers by letter. Often, publishers wish to solicit a variety of information from their subscribers, such as yearly income, profession, etc. This information is referred to as demographic data and is useful to the publisher for advertising purposes. A publisher may solicit such demographic data from its subscribers by mailing letters containing questionnaires. Based on the demographic data provided by subscribers, a publisher may wish to communicate some special offer, by letter, to certain subscribers having common demographic data.
The postal charge to publishers for mailing letters to subscribers is approximately equal to the first class postage rate at the time of mailing. The publisher may enjoy a slightly reduced rate because of the quantity of letters mailed or by presorting the letters. If a particular publication has a substantial number of subscribers, the cost of renewal and other types of letters mailed by the publisher is substantial.
Postal regulations have been suggested that would permit a publisher to attach a letter, such as a renewal letter, to the exterior of a publication and not have to pay any additional postage for the letter. Such letters are referred to as closely incidental mail. The savings of postage to a publisher for such closely incidental mail would be quite substantial.